NFL Capsules - NFC: Top to bottom, Shanahan takes charge of Redskins

ASHBURN, Va. (AP) — Less than one month after taking the job of Washington Redskins coach, Mike Shanahan called a meeting.

A big meeting. Everyone who works for the franchise was invited, from secretaries to marketing people to the employees based at the stadium on the other side of D.C. The only people not there were the players, who were off because it was February.

It took place in the Redskins Park auditorium and lasted about an hour. Shanahan gave a power point presentation of some 50 points he thought were "very important for the organization."

"You talk to everybody," Shanahan said in an interview with The Associated Press. "And everybody’s got a job to do. And you let everybody know how important their job is to the success of this organization. For us to win a Super Bowl, it’s going to take everybody, not just the players, not just the coaches. We’ve got to have the best of the best in all different areas, secretaries, marketing, stadium personnel. Everybody’s got a job to do, and that was the essence."

No one at Redskins Park had ever seen anything like it, not from a coach. Joe Gibbs, as the joke goes, was so football-focused he probably couldn’t have found the marketing department if he tried. Steve Spurrier couldn’t remember the names of his players, much less the random people he might meet in the hallway. Here was a new coach trying to unite the entire organization, an important step as he went about setting a new tone of order, discipline and control for a franchise that has been a roller-coaster of inconsistency for more than a decade and was coming off a 4-12 season.

While the players weren’t at the meeting, they quickly got the message as well. When Shanahan made the following comment at a chamber of commerce speech in May, he might as well been speaking directly at a certain unhappy defensive lineman named Albert Haynesworth.

"I like the standard set high," Shanahan said. "The one thing that I found out players want is consistency. Once you give a special player or a star player extra attention or let him get away with things, it takes way the morale of the team."

So Shanahan is in charge — in full, unyielding charge — of one of the most storied organizations in the NFL, having been given contractual control by Dan Snyder, who seems to really, really mean it this time when he says he’s become a hands-off owner. Gibbs, though in the Hall of Fame, never wanted his picture on the front of the media guide, but Shanahan is there in grand style — holding a football while lined up ahead of the Lincoln Memorial, Washington Monument and U.S. Capitol.

It’s certainly valid to say he’s earned it, having won two Super Bowls in the late 1990s with the Denver Broncos. He’s tied for 16th with 154 regular-season and postseason wins, only 17 behind Gibbs. He turned 58 this week, so he should have plenty of vigor left, and he’s had a year off to recharge the batteries after being fired by the Broncos at the end of the 2008 season.

He spent the 12 months of downtime visiting other teams, watching games on television and making contacts with potential assistant coaches so he could assemble a staff quickly when he got a new job, but nothing that he saw or heard persuaded him to change his style.

"He’s the same," said running backs coach Bobby Turner, who held the same job under Shanahan in Denver. "He’s demanding. He’s a perfectionist, and he’s expecting perfection."

Some people inside Redskins Park initially thought Shanahan was a bit of a neat freak, but that’s because the place was so cluttered. The training room and weight room were a mess, so Shanahan had them tidied up. Newspapers would pile up at the front desk; that’s no longer the case. There’s new paint, inside and out.

"He wants our building and everything to look like a professional building," said his son, offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan. "If it looks dirty and no one’s addressing it, he’s definitely going to notice it."

Mike Shanahan readily cites the people who have helped him hone his leadership style, among them Barry Switzer at Oklahoma, Darrell Mudra at Eastern Illinois (Shanahan’s alma mater) and the winning machine that became the San Francisco 49ers under Bill Walsh and George Seifert.

The common theme: Come up with a vision and get everyone in the organization behind it. It was as the offensive coordinator with the 49ers in 1992 that Shanahan first witnessed a version of the all-inclusive meeting he led at Redskins Park in February.

"Everybody knew they were part of the winning process," Shanahan said. "Everybody’s got to be on the same page. There was a culture. There was a standard that had been set. There was no substitution for the standard."

Shanahan took that philosophy to Denver and has now brought it to Washington. And it comes with no exceptions, as Haynesworth has been quick to learn.

A tense, drawn-out and very public test of the coach’s what-I-say-goes authority has dominated Shanahan’s first seven months in Washington, and the coach has come out on top — at least so far — by not wavering a bit. Haynesworth is a two-time All-Pro with a $100 million contract, but he must abide by the rules, even if that means alienating him by making him pass a conditioning test and play with the backups as a de facto punishment for boycotting the team’s offseason workouts.

After all, Shanahan nearly died from a ruptured kidney after taking a hit while playing quarterback at Eastern Illinois yet wanted to keep on playing, so he doesn’t have much room for sympathy when Haynesworth knee has a sore knee or some variation of a headache.

"He sets the rules; we’ve got to abide by them," fullback Mike Sellers said. "There’s no questioning."

Even when Shanahan appears to loosen up — taking the players bowling instead of practice, for instance — it’s a meticulously calculated move. This is the coach who created a game room during a Super Bowl week with the Broncos so the players would stay in the team hotel and out of trouble. There’s nothing like keeping them happy and under control at the same time.

"He’s thrown a lot of bones. It’s good for morale," defensive end Vonnie Holliday said. "If you’re working at the Ford dealership and you do things like this for your workers, they’ll want to work hard for you."

Shanahan can be humorous one moment, then hit you with a look that could freeze a forest fire. He exudes confidence, sometimes refreshingly so. Some coaches like to find ways to spread responsibility, and therefore the blame when things go wrong. Does Shanahan have someone in the booth specifically telling him when to throw the replay flag? No, he prefers to look at the stadium replay and make the decision himself. Does he carry the infamous chart that’s supposed to tell you when to go for a 2-point conversion? Ha!

"I’ve been coaching for a while," he said, nonchalantly. "It should be automatic for you."

One of the knocks against Shanahan in Denver is that he became overconfident after winning the Super Bowls, that he believed his system was good enough to mold any group into winners. Both of his titles came with John Elway at quarterback, but Shanahan won only one playoff game over his last 10 seasons in Denver after Elway retired.

But Shanahan says there’s no chance of winning it all if everyone isn’t buying into the plan. He likes to tell the story of how he jettisoned former first-round receivers Mike Pritchard and Anthony Miller in favor of undrafted Rod Smith and free agent Ed McCaffrey during his early years as head coach of the Broncos, the lesson being that no one is irreplaceable.

"The people that don’t buy in? The people that don’t work?" Shanahan said. "The chances are they may get to a playoff, but they’ll never do anything special like win the Super Bowl."

And that goes for the everyone — the secretaries, the marketing people and even Albert Haynesworth.

Packers' QB Rodgers as reliable as always

GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) — Aaron Rodgers already had thrown two touchdowns and rallied the Packers from an early 10-point hole, but the quarterback stood on the sideline unfulfilled.

West Point graduate chasing dream of being in NFL

ALLEN PARK, Mich. (AP) — Detroit Lions linebacker Caleb Campbell was singing the national anthem in a football uniform a couple weeks ago for the first time since he suited up Dec. 1, 2007, in the Army-Navy game.

"I got emotional," Campbell said. "I started thinking about all of my classmates protecting our country while I get to represent them in the NFL."

The West Point graduate will get another chance Saturday night in Detroit against the Cleveland Browns, playing in his third exhibition game after a long wait to resume his dream of playing professional football — a dream that prompted debate about whether it was fair for a cadet to play pro sports while his peers were at war.

Campbell, a four-year starter at strong safety for the Black Knights, was among the first Army athletes to benefit from the Alternative Service Option program, which was implemented in 2005. It allows athletes a chance to play professionally and complete their service by serving as recruiters and in the reserves.

The Air Force Academy and Naval Academy do not offer such a program. Both require two years of active service upon graduation before presenting the option of swapping the final three years of active time for six years in the reserves.

Campbell initially was told by the Army he could enter the 2008 draft, and he was taken in the seventh round by Detroit. If he made the team, he was told, he would be allowed to play in Detroit and carry out his service as a recruiter in the area.

But the Army later told Campbell, a second lieutenant, and the Lions that he would be required to serve at least two years on active duty before he could apply to be released. Campbell said he wept at the news.

"He was devastated," recalled Jordan Murray, his classmate, teammate and best friend at West Point. "He was knocking on the door of his dreams and he had to come back. Recently, though, he said it was the best thing that ever happened to him because he served his country and he’s still is getting a chance to do what he’s doing now with the Lions. It’s incredible."

Despite two years off the field, Detroit gave him an opportunity after an impressive workout, including watching him run the 40-yard dash in about 4.5 seconds, and signed him in April.

Campbell is playing linebacker instead of safety for the first time in his life, as well as special teams. The results have been mixed.

"Like a lot of other rookies, you can make a highlight film on him that looks really good and a lowlight film that looks really bad," coach Jim Schwartz said. "He’s just got to work on consistency. He’s flashy. You can see his athletic ability on special teams and he’s made some good plays in the open field on defense."

In his professional debut against the Pittsburgh Steelers, he was on the left side of the defense when he perfectly read a screen going the other way and made an impressive play.

"It was awesome," Campbell recalled with a grin. "My first tackle in the NFL was for a 6-yard loss and it meant something to me."

The 25-year-old Campbell, who is from Perryton, Texas, seems to mean a lot to countless U.S. soldiers stationed across the world because many of them send him messages on Facebook.

"Some guy recently told me he’s going to send me the flag he used during a combat jump in Afghanistan because he wants me to put it in my locker," he said. "It gave me goose bumps, reading that note. All the things you can get in the NFL — a good paycheck and public fame — come and go, but being able to touch or inspire somebody means so much more to me.

"It would be awesome to make the team, and I truly hope I do, but my journey won’t be over regardless of what happens here."

If No. 53 is on the 53-man roster in just over a week, he’ll likely join a U.S. Army Reserve Unit as a lieutenant.

If not?

"I’d probably take some time off and travel, but I wouldn’t mind getting back in uniform to continuing serve our country," he said. "I was a foreign-area studies major with a focus on international politics and a minor in biomedical environmental engineering, so there are a lot of things I could do."

Campbell is on the bubble to make the Lions’ team just as numerous players are in Cleveland.

Browns coach Eric Mangini said the preseason game in Detroit is only one part of his evaluation process, deciding who to cut and keep.

"Really, I work off of a sheet that I’ve had since I’ve been a head coach," Mangini said. "It’s kind of a worksheet based on how many you keep by position. ... It’s not really just happening this week, it’s something that I look at every day or every other day."

-- Larry Lage

Panthers, others struggling with preseason blitzes

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Carolina Panthers left tackle Jordan Gross remembers facing base defenses almost exclusively in preseason games early in his eight-year NFL career.

Slowly, as defenses have become more complex and blitz-happy, that’s changed. And it hasn’t worked out so well for several teams, including Carolina.

Facing constant pressure from all angles, the Panthers have yet to score an offensive touchdown and have allowed 11 sacks entering Saturday’s third preseason game against Tennessee at Bank of America Stadium.

"It seems like more of the defense is installed for the teams when we’re playing them," Gross said Friday. "It’s almost like a real game as far as the packages that are getting thrown at us. It’s definitely tough."

The reason is the Panthers, like most NFL teams, do little to no game planning in the preseason because they’re still putting in their own plays. While coach John Fox has remained old school — not wanting to show much on defense in fear it will tip off regular-season opponents — the New York Jets and Baltimore Ravens peppered Carolina with exotic defensive packages.

The result is an offense, led by new starting quarterback Matt Moore, desperately seeking confidence and success Saturday night when the starters will play into the third quarter.

The Panthers, often struggling to figure out who is responsible for which pass rusher, have managed three field goals in 28 preseason possessions. They’ve lost seven straight exhibition games dating to the 2008 season.

"I think it’s easy to say when it doesn’t go well that it’s just the preseason," Gross said. "But the bottom line is we want to be more productive."

The Panthers aren’t the only team looking to protect the quarterback better in this new-age preseason that has often overwhelmed backup linemen and tight ends.

Chicago’s Jay Cutler was yanked from the Bears’ first game after just eight plays because of aggressive blitzing by San Diego.

A week later, Dallas coach Wade Phillips said the Chargers "blitzed every time on third down" and "we haven’t seen all those blitzes."

St. Louis quarterback A.J. Feeley was sidelined with a right thumb injury when he was hit on a blitz last week against Cleveland. And on Monday night, Arizona coach Ken Whisenhunt acknowledged "we didn’t prepare against those kind of blitzes" when the starting unit went three-and-out in the first three series against Tennessee.

Now the Panthers will likely face the same Titans’ defensive schemes on Saturday night,

"Arizona admittedly was caught a little off guard from our aggressive approach early in the game," Titans coach Jeff Fisher said.

Panthers rookie quarterback Jimmy Clausen took a beating playing the second half last week against the Jets, when he was sacked twice. He aggravated a chronic toe injury and missed practice on Monday. Clausen is expected to finish Saturday’s game,

"You’ve got to go in and watch tape on your own ... To be honest, that’s the hard part about preseason," Clausen said. "Playing good defenses like that, you really don’t get to game plan against them."

Many defensive players shrug off talk they’re throwing too much at teams who are mostly looking to evaluate personnel. Blitzing has become a much more prevalent and part of everyday schemes, so they need to practice them in exhibition games.

"We could blitz or we could just say we’re going to play base defense and beat you up and be more physical than you at the end of the day," Titans defensive tackle Jovan Haye said. "It’s about us being physical guys knowing assignments and executing."

Fox has spent much of the week downplaying Carolina’s offensive struggles as it plays without receiver Steve Smith (broken arm), whose status for the rest of the preseason is uncertain despite his return to practice.

While Fox has been upset with the pass protection, he’s mostly declared Moore and Clausen blameless. And while the more aggressive defensive packages hasn’t changed his decision to limit game planning, he’s hopeful the barrage of looks the Panthers have already faced will help when the games start counting on Sept. 12.

"You’re going to see just about anything during a given season, and the more looks and the sooner you see things the better," Fox said. "It may not work out statistically the way you want it to, but those things all come into play, helping you as you work through the preseason."

Notes: Panthers reserve DE Hilee Taylor was to undergo arthroscopic knee surgery, Fox said after Friday’s practice. Taylor entered camp facing difficult odds to make the 53-man roster. ... Titans rookie defensive end Derrick Morgan is expected to make his NFL debut against Carolina. The 16th overall pick missed most of training camp with a calf injury.

-- Mike Cranston

Cardinals to start Anderson against Bears

LAKE FOREST, Ill. (AP) — Derek Anderson, it’s your turn. For how long remains to be determined.

The Arizona Cardinals’ quarterback situation is up in the air after coach Ken Whisenhunt decided to shake up a struggling offense and start Anderson at quarterback over Matt Leinart in the third preseason game, against the Chicago Bears on Saturday night.

"I realize we’re not game planning," Whisenhunt said. "We’re not doing a lot so you’re going to have some of those situations more so than we’d like to have, but still that would be something we’d look to improve on this week."

It’s not clear if the move announced Thursday is permanent.

Leinart defended himself in an interview with The Arizona Republic on Friday.

"I’ve done everything to this point that they’ve asked me to and more," he said. "I’ve worked hard and been a leader. I’m trying to be that guy in this new role. I have high expectations for myself."

He said his performances on the field have been "efficient."

"I’ve been accurate. I haven’t turned the ball over," he told the newspaper. "I don’t know how we judge performance when you have 13 pass attempts to the other guy’s 40. I’m not going to sit here and complain and point the finger. I have to get better and I m going to get better."

Asked if there were some underlying issues between him and Whisenhunt, Leinart said, "I don’t know, I don’t really know."

"It seems like every preseason there is something I’m trying to get through," Leinart said. "I don’t really know what’s going on and why decisions are being made. I’ve worked extremely hard to get to this point. I hope everyone has seen that."

Penciled in as the starter after Kurt Warner retired, Leinart has yet to lead Arizona’s offense to a single score this postseason and couldn’t even get a first down in the three series he played against Tennessee in a 24-10 loss Monday.

That’s right — three-and-out on all three series. The Heisman Trophy winner was 4 of 6 for 28 yards and is 10 of 13 for 77 yards in Arizona’s first two preseason games, his longest completion a 16-yarder.

So the Cardinals (1-1) are giving a start to Anderson, who competed with Brady Quinn in Cleveland and was brought in after spending his first five years with the Browns.

"I think I’ve made big strides since the spring," said Anderson, who’s completed 24 of 41 passes for 193 yards with a touchdown and two interceptions. "Feel good with it. We’ve been pretty basic in the preseason for the most part learning every single day."

No matter who is behind center, this hasn’t been an easy preseason for the Cardinals. Not with all those injured receivers.

Pro Bowler Larry Fitzgerald (sprained right knee), Early Doucet (abdominal strain), Darren Mougey (broken hand) and Andre Roberts (shoulder) are all banged up, which certainly isn’t making things easier for the quarterbacks.

Fitzgerald, who was injured in the preseason opener against Houston, increased his workload Thursday, but the Cardinals are aiming to have him ready for the season opener at St. Louis on Sept. 12. Doucet was back at practice Thursday and might be ready to play against Chicago.

As for Leinart?

The former Southern California quarterback did not talk to reporters Thursday, but a day earlier, he predicted big things for the offense, saying, "I think we’re on that verge, we’re ready to explode so to speak. We’re ready to move the ball, to score points."

If there are any early fireworks, Anderson will be directing them.

The task could be a little easier with Chicago (0-2) missing middle linebacker Brian Urlacher. He suffered what the team says is a minor left calf strain in last week’s loss to Oakland, but the Bears have more pressing concerns.

Specifically, an offensive line that allowed Jay Cutler to get sacked five times, with no one struggling more than left tackle Chris Williams. He wasn’t entirely to blame for the four sacks by outside linebacker Kamerion Wimbley, but it was a long night for a key figure on what the Bears hope will be a rejuvenated line.

"I think with Chris it’s an aberration," offensive coordinator Mike Martz said. "I see him every day out here. I don’t know what happened to him. When I look at him on tape, the technique and everything is just not who he is. I know Mike (Tice, the line coach) has talked with him and they worked through that. But a young tackle will go through that, and he has to fortunately experience that in the preseason. Imagine if that was a regular-season game."

That’s an image the Bears don’t need. They’ve seen enough breakdowns in the trenches.

Although Williams showed some promise toward the end of last season after moving from the right side, the line struggled all year and Cutler more often than not was running for his life. When he wasn’t desperately dodging defenders, he was making questionable decisions, and it all added up to a league-leading 26 interceptions along with a 7-9 record that left fans calling for coach Lovie Smith and general manager Jerry Angelo to be fired.

That didn’t happen.

Instead, the big moves were bringing in defensive end Julius Peppers and running back Chester Taylor along with a shake-up of the coaching staff, mostly on the offensive side. Besides hiring a new coordinator, they brought in Tice hoping he could bring something out of the line that was missing last season, and the Bears insist the results will show. Never mind what happened last week.

"The line, they had some struggles, like we talked about after the game, but they were in the right spots, it was just more of a lack of setting correctly and stuff like that," Cutler said. "They’re going to take care of it. I’m not worried about it."

-- Andrew Seligman

Bradford to finish preseason as Rams’ starter

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Sam Bradford will finish the preseason as the St. Louis Rams’ starting quarterback, at least partly because veteran A.J. Feeley might not be ready to play.

Bradford had a big game in his first start, going 15 of 22 for 189 yards with two touchdowns and no interceptions in a 36-35 victory at New England on Thursday night. The overall No. 1 draft pick from Oklahoma played the first half and completed his first six passes, earning another start on merit.

"Sam Bradford was leading the charge," running back Steven Jackson said.

Bradford showed off his arm with a couple of long passes, showed good mobility rolling out, and looked comfortable and in charge. It was a big step forward from the first two preseason games when he was 12 of 27 for only 81 yards and appeared a bit tentative.

"He was excellent," coach Steve Spagnuolo said Friday. "He said it best I think after the game when he said he felt in rhythm. Anytime your quarterback can get in rhythm, that’s a good thing."

Spagnuolo said it’s unlikely that Feeley, who has a sprained thumb on his throwing hand, will be ready in time for the preseason finale on Thursday night against the Baltimore Ravens. Feeley was named the starter before training camp, although it’s long been anticipated that Bradford will soon be the Rams’ No. 1 quarterback regardless of Feeley’s health.

In six possessions, Bradford produced two touchdowns and two field goals, giving a team that went 1-15 last season a boost while getting its second win this preseason.

"A.J. probably won’t make it to the Baltimore game anyway," Spagnuolo said. "That’s not a definite, but it’s going to look like a push, so certainly Sam will start."

Most teams hold most of their starters out of the final preseason game. The Rams (2-1) figure to be an exception and might give Jackson some playing time, too, to give Bradford another game with the team’s top offensive threat.

Jackson played the first series Thursday and had 22 yards on five carries.

"He got some good quality time," Spagnuolo said. "I’ll bet he’d be eager to get another drive or two, but we’ll see where we’re at."

Spagnuolo said he hadn’t decided how long Bradford would play in the finale.

"We would like to see Sam put back-to-back games together and we’ll make a decision shortly after that game which direction we’re going to go with the quarterback," he said.

Spagnuolo wouldn’t say what other signs he needed to see before anointing Bradford as the starter.

"I know you guys keep pushing for an answer," he told reporters. "I’m just not ready to make it. I’d love to see him do exactly what he did last night."

The Rams lost their top returning wide receiver perhaps for the season, adding to Bradford’s challenge. Deep threat Donnie Avery, who led the team with 47 receptions last season, tore ligaments in his right knee late in the first half on the landing after an attempt at a leaping catch.

Avery fell and clutched his knee as the pass from Bradford dropped incomplete. He was carted off the field. Spagnuolo said Avery, who caught two passes for 48 yards in the game, would undergo surgery after swelling in the knee subsides.

"It looks like we’ll lose him for the season, which is very unfortunate," Spagnuolo said. "He was having a terrific game. Donnie’s a quality guy and a character guy and we’ll miss him."

The Rams were already thin at wide receiver, and signed former Missouri star Danario Alexander last week.

Competition to be Jackson’s backup intensified just a bit when Kenneth Darby, Chris Ogbonnaya and rookie Keith Toston all played well against the Patriots. Toston had 41 yards on 12 carries with a touchdown, Darby had 35 yards on 13 carries and Ogbonnaya had 25 yards on eight attempts.

Spagnuolo said Darby and Ogbonnaya were "neck and neck" and said Toston "did some things effectively" at the end of the game.

"I grew up competing," Darby said. "I can’t control what I have no control over, the only thing I can control is my attitude."

-- R.B. Fallstrom